Social Media

Since my race is still waiting for permit review, and doesn’t take place for another 9 months, I’ve not yet started to heavily promote the event. Of course, I don’t want to wait until the last minute and then try to figure out all the best ways to reach out to runners. This week I’ve started laying the groundwork for the key to promotion in the modern age: social media.

I have to confess, I have lived for a number of years as more of a social media shut-in. While I have a Twitter and Facebook account, I have not been anything remotely resembling “active” on either site. But I know that’s not an option for someone putting on a public event in this era, and I’m working on a social media strategy, both for this blog and the race website.

This blog, with its focus on the Race Director experience, will remain an independent entity from the race itself. I hope folks will be interested in both, but you won’t have to follow this blog to run my race. To that end, I’ve created a Twitter account specifically for the Race To The Rim blog: @racetotherim. I decided not to have a Facebook presence for this blog, so I didn’t create a Facebook page. The blog itself serves as a destination for content, comments and discussions, so I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by posting the same content to Facebook.

For the Rim To Rim Trail Run website, I’m taking a slightly different approach. The audience here will be runners wanting all the basic information about the race, as well as relevant and timely updates. There will also be some amount of dialog, with runners having questions and (hopefully) wanting to tell their friends about their upcoming adventure. I’m using both Facebook and Twitter to facilitate these conversations, so I’ve created @rim2rimtrailrun on Twitter and a Rim To Rim Trail Run Facebook page.

All of this will be a big experiment for me in the social media arena, and I’m excited to see how it can be used both for race promotion and for providing benefit to runners once they have signed up for my race. Please check out all my Twitter and Facebook properties and let me know your thoughts. Tweet, post, and comment away!